25-letter words containing e, n, t, a, i, l

limited-slip differential — an automotive differential that can transfer power from a wheel that has lost traction to one that has not.
local education authority — a body that is responsible for education in a particular area
loosening of associations — a type of formal thought disorder characterized by shifts from one topic to another in ways that are obliquely related or completely unrelated, occurring as a common symptom of mania and schizophrenia.
lowest common denominator — least common denominator.
marcus aurelius antoninus — Marcus Aurelius, Marcus Aurelius.
metal oxide semiconductor — a three-layer sandwich of a metal, an insulator (usually an oxide of the substrate), and a semiconductor substrate, used in integrated circuits. Abbreviation: MOS.
metal-free phthalocyanine — phthalocyanine (def 1).
methylrosaniline chloride — gentian violet.
metropolitan area network — (MAN) A data network intended to serve an area the size of a large city. Such networks are being implemented by innovative techniques, such as running optical fibre through subway tunnels. A popular example of a MAN is SMDS. See also Local Area Network, Wide Area Network.
mount kenya national park — a national park in Kenya, located in the regions of Mount Kenya that are above 3200 m (10 500 ft); now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the park covers 1420 sq km (548 sq miles)
mpc level 1 specification — (multimedia) The original Multimedia Personal Computer specification. Minimum requirements are a 16 MHz 386SX with 2 megabytes of RAM, a 30 MB hard disk drive, and a CD-ROM drive with a sustained data transfer rate of 150 KB/s at no more than 40% of CPU bandwidth and reading at least 16 KB blocks. The maximum average seek time is 1 second and the Mean Time Between Failure 10000 hours. Capability Mode 1. The computer must have 8-bit digital sound and an 8-note synthesizer with MIDI playback. Sample rates of 22.05 and 11.025 kHz must be supported by no more than 10% of CPU bandwidth, preferably 44.1 kHz at no more than 15% of CPU bandwidth. The synthesizer must support multi-voice, multi-timbral generation of six simultaneous melody notes and two simultaneous percussive notes with internal mixing capabilities to combine input from three sources and present the output as a stereo, line-level audio signal at the back panel. The video display must have a resolution of at least 640 x 480 in 16 colours. MIDI, I/O, and joystick ports must be previded. Compare MPC Level 2 Specification.
mpc level 2 specification — (multimedia) An improved version of the MPC Level 1 Specification for Multimedia Personal Computers. Minimum requirements are a 25 Mhz 486SX with 4 MB of RAM and a 160 MB hard disk drive. The CD-ROM drive must support a sustained data transfer rate of 300 KB/s using at most 60% of CPU bandwidth on 16 KB minimum block read size. Its average seek time must be 400 milliseconds maximum. Capability Mode 1, Mode 2 form 1, Mode 2 form 2, Multisession. It must be CD-ROM XA-ready. The computer must have 16-bit digital sound, an 8-note synthesizer, and MIDI playback. A sample rate of 44.1 kHz must be available on stereo channels with more than 15% of CPU bandwidth. A video display with a resolution of 640 x 480 in 65,536 colours, and MIDI, I/O, and joystick ports must be provided.
multi-scene control board — preset board.
my favourite toy language — (jargon, language) (MFTL) Describes a talk on a programming language design that is heavy on syntax (with lots of BNF), sometimes even talks about semantics (e.g. type systems), but rarely, if ever, has any content (see content-free). More broadly applied to talks - even when the topic is not a programming language --- in which the subject matter is gone into in unnecessary and meticulous detail at the sacrifice of any conceptual content. "Well, it was a typical MFTL talk". 2. A language about which the developers are passionate (often to the point of prosyletic zeal) but no one else cares about. Applied to the language by those outside the originating group. "He cornered me about type resolution in his MFTL." The first great goal in the mind of the designer of an MFTL is usually to write a compiler for it, then bootstrap the design away from contamination by lesser languages by writing a compiler for it in itself. Thus, the standard put-down question at an MFTL talk is "Has it been used for anything besides its own compiler?". On the other hand, a language that *cannot* be used to write its own compiler is beneath contempt. See break-even point, toolsmith.
nail in the coffin of sth — If you say that one thing is a nail in the coffin of another thing, you mean that it will help bring about its end or failure.
national advanced systems — (company) (NAS) A company, previously known as ITEL, that made IBM plug-compatible hardware and was bought by Hitachi.
national enterprise board — a public corporation established in 1975 to help the economy of the UK. In 1981 it merged with the National Research and Development Council to form the British Technology Group
national insurance number — a number allocated to UK citizens so that they can pay national insurance
national liberation front — the name taken by nationalist insurgent groups in various countries.
national portrait gallery — an art gallery in London, established in 1856, displaying portraits and photographs of eminent figures in British history
national security council — the council, composed of the president, vice president, secretary of state, secretary of defense, director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that determines means by which domestic, foreign, and military policy can best be integrated for safeguarding the national security. Abbreviation: NSC.
national unity government — a government formed by a coalition of parties, esp in time of national emergency
neurocirculatory asthenia — cardiac neurosis.
never do things by halves — If you say that someone never does things by halves, you mean that they always do things very thoroughly.
non-algorithmic procedure — heuristic
normal equivalent deviate — a value x such that the integral of a normal curve over all those values of the independent variable less than x is equal to the given probability.
northern corn-leaf blight — northern leaf blight.
nuffield teaching project — (in Britain) a complete school programme in mathematics, science, languages, etc, with suggested complementary theory and practical work
object relational mapping — (programming, database) (ORM) The software development activity that defines a correspondence between objects in a program and rows in a database table. Atomic object properties correspond to columns in the table, non-atomic data types and relations between objects are represented as foreign keys referring to other tables. An object persistence mechanism is responsible for maintaining the correspondence between objects and the database contents at run-time.
observational equivalence — Two terms M and N are observationally equivalent iff for all contexts C[] where C[M] is a valid term, C[N] is also a valid term with the same value.
on the big/small etc side — If you say that something is on the small side, you are saying politely that you think it is slightly too small. If you say that someone is on the young side, you are saying politely that you think they are slightly too young.
on the horns of a dilemma — one of the bony, permanent, hollow paired growths, often curved and pointed, that project from the upper part of the head of certain ungulate mammals, as cattle, sheep, goats, or antelopes.
on the side of the angels — If you say that someone is on the side of the angels, you believe very strongly that what they are doing is right.
open educational resource — Usually, open educational resources. a piece of content or a tool for teaching or learning, often developed online, that is made available free of charge for anyone to use, revise, adapt, or redistribute. Abbreviation: OER.
oxidative phosphorylation — the aerobic synthesis, coupled to electron transport, of ATP from phosphate and ADP.
page description language — a high-level programming language for determining the output of a page printer designed to work with it, independent of the printer's internal codes. Abbreviation: PDL.
peripheral nervous system — the portion of the nervous system lying outside the brain and spinal cord.
permanent virtual circuit — (networking) (PVC, or in ATM terminology, "Permanent Virtual Connection") A virtual circuit that is permanently established, saving the time associated with circuit establishment and tear-down.
personal flotation device — a life preserver, life jacket, or other device for keeping a person afloat in the water. Abbreviation: PFD.
personal-opinion telegram — a type of domestic telegram sent at the lowest rate with a minimum charge for 20 words or less to elected federal or state officials on a subject of national or regional interest.
personalized number plate — a car registration plate that has the owner's initials or name on it
pick/take up the gauntlet — If you pick up the gauntlet or take up the gauntlet, you accept the challenge that someone has made.
play into someone's hands — a dramatic composition or piece; drama.
point-and-drool interface — (abuse) (Or "point-and-grunt interface") A parody of "point-and-shoot interface", describing a windows, icons, and mouse-based (WIMP) graphical user interface. The implication, of course, is that such an interface is only suitable for idiots. See for the rest of us, WIMP, drool-proof paper.
polycystic ovary syndrome — a hormonal disorder in which the Graafian follicles in the ovary fail to develop completely so that they are unable to ovulate, remaining as multiple cysts that distend the ovary. The results can include reduced fertility, obesity, and hirsutism
polymerase chain reaction — a technique in which a known DNA sequence is synthesized at high temperatures by means of a polymerase, producing millions of copies for statistical analysis: used in DNA fingerprinting, in detecting minute quantities of cancer cells, etc.
polynomial-time algorithm — (complexity) A known algorithm (or Turing Machine) that is guaranteed to terminate within a number of steps which is a polynomial function of the size of the problem. See also computational complexity, exponential time, nondeterministic polynomial-time (NP), NP-complete.
portable network graphics — (file format) /ping/ (PNG) An extensible file format for the lossless, portable, well-compressed storage of raster images. PNG provides a patent-free replacement for GIF and can also replace many common uses of TIFF. Indexed-colour, greyscale and truecolour images are supported, plus an optional alpha channel. Sample depths range from 1 to 16 bits. PNG is designed for on-line viewing applications, such as the World Wide Web, so it is fully streamable with a progressive display option. PNG is robust, providing both full file integrity checking and simple detection of common transmission errors. Also, PNG can store gamma correction and chromaticity data for improved colour matching on heterogeneous platforms.
positional representation — (mathematics) The conventional way of writing numbers as a string of digits in which each digit, D, has value D * R^I, where R is the radix or (number) base and I is the digit's position counting leftward from zero at the least significant (right-hand) end. Each digit can be zero to R-1. Each position has a weight or significance R times greater than the position to its right and the right-most place has a weight of one. Decimal numbers are radix ten, binary numbers are radix two, octal radix eight and hexadecimal radix 16. Positional representation makes arithmetic operations on large numbers much easier than, say, roman numerals. It is fundamental to the binary representation used by digital computers.
primary domain controller — (networking) (PDC) Each Windows NT domain has a Primary Domain Controller and zero or more Backup Domain Controllers. The PDC holds the SAM database and authenticates access requests from workstations and servers in the domain.

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